Television – Basic receiver with additional function
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-21
2004-09-07
Lee, Michael H. (Department: 2614)
Television
Basic receiver with additional function
C348S552000, C348S725000, C348S714000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06788352
ABSTRACT:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C § 119 from an application entitled Television Based on Operating System and Method of Displaying an Initial Screen Thereof earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Aug. 23, 2000, and there duly assigned Ser. No. 2000-48973 by that Office.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a television based on an operating system (OS) and a method of displaying an initial screen.
2. Description of Related Art
A television based on an operating system, for example, a computer-based television and a set top box, cannot be viewed by a viewer until a booting process is completed. When the power is supplied to the television, the central processing unit (CPU) executes a boot loader program stored in a ROM to perform the booting process. Then, the viewer can view the television broadcast after an application program is executed. The boot loader program is programmed to check a main memory, the ROM, the devices mounted on peripheral component interconnect (PCI) slots, a hard disk, and a floppy disk, and to load the operating system (OS) into the main memory to boot the system. Such a digital television is constructed to be based on the operating system, and thus the user cannot manipulate the television until the loading of the operating system is completed. However, since a time to execute the boot loader program is lengthy, the user could wait for a long time (about 10 to about 30 seconds) without being able to view the television broadcast.
An example of a computer-based television is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,044 to Mark P. Vaughan entitled Method And Apparatus For Controlling A Display Monitor In A PC/TV Convergence System.
Hereinafter, a configuration and an initial screen display method of a television based on an operating system being contemplated by the Assignee of the present invention are explained in detail, centering on the computer-based television.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer-based television. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the computer-based television includes a central processing unit (CPU)
10
, a ROM
20
, a random access memory (RAM)
30
, a north and south bridge
40
, a hard disk drive (HDD)
50
, a PCI bridge
60
, and a television card
70
.
CPU
10
executes the boot loader program stored in the ROM
20
when power is supplied to the television. RAM
30
loads the operating system and the application programs, which are stored in HDD
50
, by a control of CPU
10
. At this point, since CPU
10
has only a CPU core, CPU
10
requires a bridge that connects it with chips having different interfaces to connect external chips. A chip to connect CPU
10
with ROM
20
, RAM
30
, and a PCI bus is called the “north bridge”. Similarly, a chip to connect a PCI bridge with HDD
50
, a USB (not shown), a UART (not shown), peripheral integrated circuits (ICs: not shown), and the like is called the “south bridge”. The north and south bridge
40
is referred to as a chip that incorporate the north bridge and the south bridge. The PCI bridge
60
serves as an intermediate connection unit to connect various chips with the PCI bus. Even though not shown, a graphic card, a sound card and the like are included.
Television card
70
includes a tuner
71
, a channel decoder
72
, a transport stream demultiplexer
73
, a video decoder
74
, an audio decoder
75
, and first and second digital-to-analog converters
76
and
77
. Tuner
71
receives a broadcasting wave of a certain frequency from an antenna (not shown) under a control of CPU
10
. Channel decoder
72
converts the broadcasting wave from tuner
71
into a transport stream. Transport stream demultiplexer
73
converts the transport stream output from channel decoder
72
into an audio packet stream and a video packet stream. Video decoder
74
restores the video packet stream, and audio decoder
75
restores the audio packet stream. Digital-to-analog converter
76
converts a digital video signal output from video decoder
74
into an analog video signal and outputs it to be displayed on a screen (not shown). Digital-to-analog converter
77
converts a digital audio signal output from audio decoder
75
into an analog audio signal and outputs it to a speaker (not shown).
FIG. 2
is a flowchart illustrating an initial screen display method of the computer-based television of FIG.
1
. First, CPU
10
checks whether power is supplied on or not. When power is supplied, CPU
10
executes the boot loader program stored in ROM
20
(step
210
). The boot loader program performs a hardware basic test. For example, it checks ROM
20
, RAM
30
, HDD
50
, and other various devices mounted therein (step
220
). CPU
10
then loads the operating system, stored in HDD
50
, into RAM
30
(step
230
). CPU
10
loads the application programs stored in the HDD
50
into RAM
16
(step
240
). The CPU
10
then performs an application program (step
250
). CPU
10
then processes an input of a user (step
260
). In other words, in order to view a television broadcast output through television card
70
, the user waits to execute the application program until after a completion of the booting process.
Even though not explained, a set top box according to the related art also is operated in a similar manner to the computer-based television.
As described above, since the application programs cannot be executed until after the loader program performs the system booting completely, the television based on the operating system can be viewed only after a completion of the system booting process, whereupon there comes the problem in that the user waits for a long time (about 10 to about 30 seconds) without viewing the television broadcast.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a television based on an operating system in which the viewer can view a television broadcast directly after the television is turned on. U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,383 to Hiroyuki Chimoto et al. entitled Multimedia Television Receiver And Method Of Booting The Same teaches that while the CPU is performing bootstrap processing immediately after the power switch of the television receiver is turned on, a DMA device is initialized, causing a monitor to display a television image being received, no matter whether an operating system has been activated or not. While the television image is being displayed the CPU continues to perform the bootstrap processing in order to activate the operating system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a television based on an operating system in which a viewer can view a television broadcast before completion of a system booting process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of displaying an initial screen of a television based on an operating system to enable a viewer to view the television broadcast before completion of the system booting process.
In order to achieve the above objects, the preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a television based on an operating system, including: a first memory storing a boot loader program, the boot loader program performing a hardware basic test and a booting process; a television signal generating portion outputting a television broadcast; a second memory storing a MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) control program and channel information, the MPEG control program driving the television signal generating portion to output the television broadcast corresponding to the channel information; and a central processing unit executing the boot loader program and executing the MPEG control program after the hardware basic test of the boot loader program.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention further provides a method of displaying an initial screen of a television based on an operating system, the television including a boot loader program, a MP
Bushnell , Esq. Robert E.
Lee Michael H.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Tran Trang U.
LandOfFree
Television based on operating system and method of... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Television based on operating system and method of..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Television based on operating system and method of... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3190522